Heart to Heart
by Rid3r Chick
Summary: This is a little something I wrote because I sort of feel sorry for Ari. Anyways, this is Ari's feelings on the conversation he had with Max in the dungeon. I hope you like it. Please read and review! Thanks.


Heart-to-Heart

Ari's POV

Max was at it again. She was muttering. Her mom had us placed in a dungeon and chained to the wall by our ankles.

Anyways, I walked over to her and crouched down next to her.

"I don't remember you muttering this much, before," I said.

She looked at me and said, "I was a little saner, then."

I didn't say anything. I just looked at her. She represented every thing I wanted to have, every thing I wanted to be.

I've heard the flock talking about how cool flying was. I mean, they have wings. Real wings.

I should be happy that I have them too, right? Wrong. Those stinking white coats gave me wings for my seventh birthday. Those things hurt like, like, well. You know. H-E- double hockey sticks.

While I was lost in my musings, Max started writing things in the dirt.

"That spells Ari," she said. She redrew what she wrote. A…R…I. "Now you do it."

I picked up my hand to write the A, but I stopped.

"What's the point?" I asked bitterly.

She knew I was right. I know I'm dying. I'm reminded every time I touch my neck. What's the point of learning how to write my name, or even to read for that matter, when every day could be my last?

"You should learn how to write your name," she said.

That's Max. Stubborn as always.

She pushed my hand to try again.

"Come on. First A," she continued.

I concentrated really hard and I did it. I really did it!

She sort of burst my bubble of happiness when she said, "A drunk monkey could do better, but you'll get there. Do the R."

I tried to do the R, I really did, but it did it wrong because Max scratched it out and showed me how to do it again.

I started thinking then. Why is she doing this? I mean, honestly? We haven't really been friends since this whole "Max-must-save-the-world" thing. Sure, I've been standing by her side since me and the little blond one- what's her name again? Oh yeah! Angel- Angel busted them out of the School, but she knows our history from before then, so why?

Before I tried to hurt myself by thinking too much, I voiced the question that's been flying around my head since we started this whole "name-writing" thing.

"How come you're doing this?" I asked completely unsure as to how Max would react.

"Uh- to make up for almost killing you in New York?"

Oh.

_**Flashback**_

_I thought back to that awful day. As usual, Max and I were fighting. I mean, I hated her. Anyways, we were in the subway tunnel fighting and occasionally insulting each other._

_I was doing so good, pushing her to the limit until I lost my balance and she kicked me. We went down after that. She grabbed my head and then my neck cracked as I hit the tunnel's hard edge. I looked at her in shock. I was surprised and it showed across my face._

"_You really hurt me,"_ _I said. "I wouldn't hurt you. _Not like this."

_And then I knew no more. That is until they fixed me._

_**End Flashback**_

I didn't look at her as I said, "You did kill me. They brought me back. Fused some of the bones in my neck."

I ran a hand over my neck. Pretty impossible not to after all that has happened to it. I repressed a shudder. Ick.

"I'm sorry," she said. "You were trying to kill me first."

Of course I was. I was trying to make Dad happy. And also because I hated her pretty little guts. And I told her that.

She shocked me by saying, "He was proud of you. He liked you following him around in the lab."

Could've fooled me. He let them turn me into a hulking Eraser with mixed-matched wings attached to me. Not to mention my expiration date written on my neck.

"You never even noticed me," I said tracing the I in my name.

Max surprised me once again. She said she _did_ notice me. She said she was jealous of me because I _was_ Jeb's son.

And all of this time, I was envious of her because Dad paid more attention to her and she was envious of me. Goes to show you how much I know Max _and_ Jeb.

She went on explaining why she had to be the best so Dad could love her and how happy she was when Dad took her and her flock away from the school.

I remember how sad and depressed I was after they left. I had no body and I told her that. But after her explanation, I understood her better.

"I understand now," I said. "It wasn't your fault. You were just a kid. It wasn't either of our faults."

I looked at her and I saw that she was trying hard not to cry, a battle I must say she was winning.

She prattled on about some guy named Shakespeare. (What the heck?) But what she said at the end caught my attention.

"'Anyone who fights with me today is my brother.' So- if you fight with me today…"

I understood what she was saying. I smiled and nodded and surprise number three: She hugged me!

I was sooo happy that finally, Max and I could be friends after all the things that were said between us. Especially after that botched attempt with Max II.

Things aren't looking so glum anymore. Except for the fact that I'm dying. But hey, you can't have your cake and eat it to, can you?

_FIN!_

A/N: Ha ha. Instead of it being 'Author's Note' it can be 'Ari's Note'! I just thought that that was funny. I just wanted to thank you for reading how I felt about my little heart-to-heart with Max. It really means a lot to yours truly. I can't stay and chat because the Flyboys have come to crash our moment. Thanks Anyways!

Ari

PS. I can write my name now! You rock Max!

**Works Cited**

This whole fic is based on Ch. 96 from MR3. The flashback comes from Ch, 130 of MR1.

James Patterson is an effing genious!

Rid3r Chick


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